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The Top Book List

Award year

2026 National Book Award

Announced

The National Book Foundation named the finalists for the 2026 National Book Awards on October 6, 2026, five books in each of the five competitive categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People's Literature. The Fiction finalists include new novels by Edwidge Danticat and Valeria Luiselli, and the Translated Literature list features Karl Ove Knausgaard's The School of Night, translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken. In Nonfiction, the finalists range from Colin Asher's history of prison music to Sara Nović's Mother Tongue, while the Young People's Literature finalists include books by Elana K. Arnold, Tae Keller and David Levithan with Gabriel Duckels. The winners will be announced at the 77th National Book Awards ceremony in New York on November 18, 2026; this page will be updated then.

Source: official announcement

Fiction

  • Cover of Dèy by Edwidge DanticatNational Book Award

    Dèy

    Edwidge Danticat

    National Book Award Finalist

  • Cover of Mad Eden by Morgan ThomasNational Book Award

    Mad Eden

    Morgan Thomas

    National Book Award Finalist

  • Cover of Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith AssadiNational Book Award

    Paradiso 17

    Hannah Lillith Assadi

    National Book Award Finalist

Nonfiction

Poetry

Also recognized

  • Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza by Fady JoudahFinalist
  • Hide by Carolina EbeidFinalist

Translated Literature

Young People's Literature

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